Australia's Cromwell to float $1.1 billion REIT in Singapore

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia’s Cromwell Property Group (CMW.AX) will tap Asian investors in a bid to raise as much as 900 million euros ($1.1 billion) through a real estate investment trust in Singapore, according to a prospectus lodged Friday.

The trust, called CEREIT, will hold 81 office, industrial and retail properties across Europe, which Cromwell values at about 1.8 billion euros.

The planned initial public offering (IPO) will add to a strong year for listings on the Singapore bourse, which promotes itself as the Asian hub for real-estate trusts such as Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FRCT.SI) and Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (AEMN.SI).

A successful listing would be the largest since July, when NetLink NBN Trust (NETL.SI) raised $1.7 billion in the biggest IPO in Singapore in four years, propelling listings in the city-state to a multi-year high.

Cromwell will retain roughly 12.7 percent of the new vehicle itself, with the rest offered to investors in Singapore, which is an Asian hub for real-estate trust listings.

Cromwell, which had no further comment on Monday beyond the prospectus documents, said it received eligibility-to-list approval from Singapore’s bourse in August, and estimates the listing will yield 7.5 percent in 2018.

Goldman Sachs and UBS are joint-managers for the listing, which has an offering price between 0.55 euros and 0.57 euros. A final price will be determined on Sept. 21.

Australian-listed shares in Cromwell rose 0.8 percent to A$0.96 in morning trade on Monday, in line with the broader S&P/ASX 200 index .